And this is the writing that was written, MENE, Mene, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

BELSHAZZAR, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was a profane and luxurious prince; against whom God raised up Cyrus, king of Persia, who, in conjunction with Darius the Mede, his uncle, beseiged Babylon. That city was so strongly fortified, that Belshazzar and his princes thought it altogether impregnable. Nor does it appear how it could have been taken but by the stratagem which actually was employed. The Medes and Persians, by immense labor, drained off the waters of the river, and crept in under the wall, along the bed of the river. Even then, all this labor would have been vain, had not the Babylonians, in their drunken revel, left open the brazen gates, at the end of every street which came down to the water. But Isaiah had predicted these very circumstances near two hundred years beforehand. (Isa. xlv. 1.) And Belshazzar hastened on his ruin by the insult he offered, that night in which he was slain, to the God of Israel. See ver. 1-5, &c.

This was a very awful warning, and though it came too late to him, the catastrophe that followed so soon, should make it the more impressive to us. For what was in this case written to him in strange characters on the wall, is legibly addressed to every Christless sinner in the scriptures; and every word may be justly interpreted in such a latitude, as to include us all in the solemn admonition.

FIRST: Mene, Mene. "He hath numbered," &c.

God, who numbers the days of the proudest monarchs, and limits the duration of the greatest empires, has in like manner settled the bounds of every sinner's career, and will finish the days of his reprieve, as soon as the measure of his iniquity is full. "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth; are not his days like the days of an hireling? His days

are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." These

bounds are not known to others, though we are pretty sure about seventy years will terminate the best of them, and by far the majority come very short. O that you were evidently concerned so to number your days as to apply your hearts to wisdom. Consider how short your time is-near half spent in sleep-how much more in merely feeding the body-how much more in trifles-how much in flagrant sin! Ah! it would be easy to count all the days you have spent in serving God, in attempting to answer the end of your existence, in minding your own main interests, in earnestly glorifying God, or seeking to enjoy him. Some know they never spent an hour thus yét. God has numbered your days of unregeneracy; and if you turn to-day to him, you will not have so much time (many of you) to serve God, as you gave Satan. God has numbered your Sabbaths: some have had above two thousand Sabbaths, and never yet improved one, in forty years. God has numbered your sins: he lets some go on in sin twelve years, some twenty, some thirty, some fifty years, ere he says, "Cut them down." You cannot guess when your measure will be filled up. Every moment a Christless sinner is out of hell, he enjoys upon sufferance; he is condemned already, only reprieved during the pleasure of the King of kings. And yet, how will infatuated sinners still procrastinate, even when grey hairs are here and there upon them! Or after some deadly disease has seized their constitution. One delay is commonly pregnant with another, and that with a train of them, which often last till he sinks into the abyss.

SECONDLY: "Tekel.

"Tekel. Thou art weighed in the balance,

and found wanting."

God, who weighs in an impartial balance the guilt of empires, and dooms them to destruction when their appointed hour is come, will also exactly weigh the moral worth of the individual, and detect every defect, and deal with the Christless soul according to his true demerit. Weigh then

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thyself in the balance of the sanctuary, O sinner, and seriously examine thy character and conduct. duty, and examine if thou canst stand before God on the ground or the covenant of works. Notice the 23d verse, and

ask conscience if the charge against Belshazzar is not applicable to thee. What hast thou ever done for God, with a single eye to his glory? Has he had all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, or been served with all the strength? What will make amends for this defect? Will a little selfish honesty, or partial, instinctive benevolence? Nay, God required more of thee,. for fellowmen, than ever was given by thee-genuine, disinterested love. What will make amends? Will repentance? Tears pay no debt. Repentance is neither the obedience demanded by the law, nor its curse. Repentance implies an acknowledgment of demerit: will this justify? The best thing in repentance is a return to obedience; but this makes no amends for past rebellion. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." What then will do? Look unto

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Is he your only trust? Is What are its concomitants?

Jesus, not as a partial Saviour, just to make amends for defects, but a complete one. He is the end of the law. Examine if you be in the faith. be in the faith. your faith cordial and vital? What its fruits? Does it work by love, overcome the world, unite with Christ in the design of his mediation? be not deceived! Boast not of a false gift, lest thou be weighed in the balance and found wanting. Christ must be all, and be all in you, or else you will be found wanting.

THIRDLY: Upharsin. And they have divided."

God, who divided the mighty empire of Babylon, and gave it to the Medes and Persians, will also divide asunder the sinner at the day of death, and consign body and soul to their righteous doom. Sinner, thou shalt soon be divided from thy wicked companions; thou wilt meet them again in hell before long. Thou shalt be divided from the people of God, and that for ever. No more will they burden you with their counsels, nor shalt thou vex them by thy vile conversation. Thou shalt be divided from thine idolized enjoyments; divided from thy false hopes. Body and soul shall be divided; the one given to the loathsome worms, the other to those cruel spirits, whom thou hast listened to as thy tempters, and to whom thou shalt be consigned as thy tor

mentors. And when body and soul are re-united, thou wouldst gladly sink back into thy grave, or be buried under falling mountains, rather than meet him as a Judge, whom thou didst reject as a Saviour. O then be warned to flee for refuge.

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How long, O infatuated sinner, wilt thou abuse the patience of thy Maker? How long shall his forbearance, which ought to lead thee to repentance, encourage thee to affront him with new insults? Shall thy madness continue to kick at the goadings of conscience? Wilt thou trample on divine authority, and set the thunders of Jehovah at defiance, till they burst on thy head, and sink thee in eternal perdition? Do the admonitions of thy friends, the solemn warnings of ministers, and the many instances of mortality around thee, sound in thine ears, or strike thine eye, and assail thine heart in vain? Is it nothing to thee, that an omnipresent God beholds all thy conduct, scrutinizes thy inmost soul, and has engaged to bring every secret thing into judgment? neither the smoke, the fire, and the voice of God from Sinai appal thee; nor the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, the crimson stream which flowed upon Calvary, affect thy hard and impenitent heart? Shall the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly for thy obstinate rebellion; and wilt thou yet refuse to lay down thy impious arms of hostility? Shall they pray thee in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God, and hear thee again and again reply, I will not have Immanuel to reign over me.' Art thou in love with eternal flames; dost thou aspire after everlasting burnings? Or, what is thy hope? Where is thy refuge, that the precious corner-stone God has laid in Zion should be to thee a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence? Where canst thou find a better shelter, than in that name which the believer accounts a strong tower? Or, who shall raise thee to higher happiness than he who came from the bosom of the Father, to seek and save the lost? He is able to save to the uttermost. He will in nowise cast out? Come to him, and thou shalt be safe. Persist in rejecting him, and thy damnation is inevitable.

XLVII.

THE BRIGHTNESS OF GOD'S GLORY, AND THE HIDINGS OF GOD'S POWER.

HAB. iii. 4.

And his brightness was as the light: he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of his power.

THE prophet Habakkuk seems to have lived some time before the Babylonish captivity. He predicted the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and the judgments of God which should afterwards overtake the victors themselves. This chapter is a poetical composition, like many of the Psalms; containing a prayer, or devotional exercise of the prophet, occasioned by the prospect of the Chaldean invasion; in which Habakkuk encourages himself, by the recollection of what God had formerly wrought for Israel, and expresses his confidence in the divine all-sufficiency under approaching calamities. In the text are two things which demand our attention.

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FIRST: The prophet celebrates the brightness of the divine glory. See ver. 3. And his brightness was as the light.

There may, in this phrase, be an allusion to the visible brightness in the pillar of fire in the wilderness, which first appeared at the Red Sea; or, to the appearance on Mount Sinai, at giving the law; or, to the clouds of glory, which afterwards filled the temple, and rested on the mercy-seat. But if so, it is considered as emblematical of somewhat more spiritual and excellent. If we consider God as to his essential glory, which is absolutely perfect, and ever the same, his brightness is as the light. Yea, God is light, perfect light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John i. 5. No ignorance error, spot, or blemish. He is perfect in knowledge, purity, and beauty. So likewise as to his manifestative, or declarative glory, or the outward exhibition of his inward excellence, his brightness is as the light. Though the display of his glory to his creatures may admit of degrees, and is capable of increase, it is ever bright and beautiful. Every manifestation of it is so; but especially the more full displays of the gospel.

God has used many ways to exhibit his